Westbank Christian Center recovery project ran amok: An editorial

It's hard to imagine a hurricane recovery project that's a bigger mess than the rebuilding of Westbank Christian Center, a K-8 private school in Harvey that was heavily damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

Mark Waller/The Times-PicayuneConstruction is in limbo at the Westbank Christian Center building on Lapalco Boulevard in Harvey.

The state legislative auditor found evidence that the school, which has received $2.5 million in public assistance money from FEMA, misspent and mismanaged money and violated rules.

Investigators found what they described as a fabricated invoice for $650,0000 to Recovery Development Group, a contractor whose registered agent is former state Rep. Sherman Copelin. They also found invoices for work that was never done.

The school itself remains unfinished, and the report said the work that has been done is below standard.

The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which manages federal disaster money, halted reimbursements to the school after spotting discrepancies and asked the legislative auditor to investigate.

Assistant Legislative Auditor John Morehead said his office has turned its findings over to the U.S. attorney's office and the Jefferson Parish district attorney so they can decide whether a criminal investigation should be launched. That was the right step.

The public assistance program is a reimbursement program, which means recipients are supposed to use the money they receive to pay the invoices they have submitted.
Westbank Christian Center did receive a construction advance of more than $1.1 million for the project. The school used the money to demolish the damaged building and pay the first of four $650,000 installments to its contractor.

But Charles Woessner, project manager for Caddmaxx Inc., a construction management firm that Westbank Christian hired in 2009, told the state that neither the school nor the contractor had money to buy materials or pay subcontractors. The school submitted invoices for incomplete work to "prop up'' the contractor, he said.

The legislative auditor pointed out many more problems, including failure to follow proper bidding procedures, overpayment of the contractor and payment to Caddmaxx for work that was only partly completed. The school also paid $11,000 to a renovation company owned by Ron Ellison, a registered agent of the school and son of the school's director Thera Ellison. The legislative auditor pointed to that as a conflict of interest.

Caddmaxx, which was alone in responding to the audit, blamed the state emergency office for failing to provide sufficient oversight. The legislative auditor's report recommended that the state provide better training for grant recipients and closer monitoring. Those are legitimate points.

But it's important for prosecutors to decide whether the profound problems with this project reflect more than mismanagement.